Library Services in a School for the Blind

Library Services in a School for the Blind

Future Reflections Summer 1990, Vol. 9 No. 2
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LIBRARY SERVICES IN A SCHOOL
FOR THE BLIND
by Edith L. Willoughby
From the Editor: Not long ago I received a
letter and a copy of the following article from one
Edith L. Willoughby, librarian at the Overbrook
School for the Blind in Philadelphia. She had
read the article I had written about library services
for the Spring/Summer issue of Future
Reflections, and thought I might find her article,
which had been published in the Catholic Library
World magazine, of some interest. I did.
Now, I honestly do not know if the Overbrook
library is, when compared to others of its kind,
superior or just average in the services it
provides. But it seemed to me that the article
would stimulate some thought about what we
should expect from library services for the
blind --especially services for blind children. It
could also be used for comparisons. And who
knows, perhaps other librarians or teachers or
parents would be moved to share with us information,
ideas, and expectations about library services
for blind children in their school or community.
Here is the article as reprinted from Catholic Library World.
Overbrook School for the Blind, an approved
private school, was chartered by the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania in 1834. It has been at its
present location in the Overbrook section of
Philadelphia since 1898. The building, designed
by the architectural firm of Cope and
Stewardson, is a rare example of Spanish Mission
architecture on the East Coast.
The library, situated in the main building between
two garden cloisters, is easily accessible
from all points of the campus. On two floors, it
comprises a professional room, a large print
room, space for "easy" books for preschool students,
a reference room, listening rooms, and a
reading room. The second floor mezzanine is
accessible by two flights of stairs and an elevator.
-Serving a heterogeneous population
In this setting, the library at Overbrook serves a
heterogeneous population, with a wide range of
needs, skills, and abilities. The most recent addition
to the program is an international school,
now in its fourth year. This school year, students
from eleven countries are studying, primarily,
English as a Second Language, and computer
technology. The preschool Department, which
works with children ages 2-6, is a heavy user of
thelibrary. The Multi-handicapped Department
serves the needs of children who have other
handicaps in addition to blindness. The Secondary
School prepares students for college as well
as for the work force.
Confronted with the challenge of a school
population of this nature, the library's goal is to
broaden, enrich, and stimulate the teaching
learning experience for each member of the
school staff and student body.
-Reading in a library for the blind
In a school for the blind, the library collection
must reflect the manner in which the blind student
reads. Curriculum-oriented Braille books
form the basis for the collection, augmented by
large print and "regular" print books. Because all
blind people are eligible for membership in the
National Library Service for the Blind and Physically
Handicapped, the Overbrook School
Library is able to participate in interlibrary loans
across the country. Many titles are found in the
library in both print and Braille so that teachers
with students who are totally blind as well as
students with some usable vision may require
both to read the same book. Books also are available
on audiotape cassettes and records. The
so-called "talking books" are not popular with the
students and are being phased out of production
in favor of the easy-to-carry and easy-to-operate
audiotape cassettes. Most students who enjoy
reading as a recreational pursuit prefer reading
Braille to listening to books on tape or record.
In the "easy" section, books are available in print,
Braille, and print-Braille, a combination of both
media on the same page. With this latter
medium, a sighted person can read the story to a
blind child, who, although he or she cannot read
Braille yet, can become familiar with the Braille
dots. Some "easy" books also have pages which
the young reader may "scratch and sniff to add
to the enjoyment of the story.
-Reference works for research
The reference section of the library contains the
usual standard reference works in both print and
Braille. Considering that the Thorndike Junior
Dictionary is 22 Braille volumes, one can understand
the need for a considerable amount of shelf
space. Dictionaries and encyclopedias, available
on audiotape cassettes, are specially indexed to
find the necessary entries; most students quickly
learn to operate the special equipment required.
Some reference works are available only in
standard print format and, therefore, must be
read to the student. A print enlarger, operated
through a closed-circuit TV will enlarge print up
to 60 times; it also is available in the reference
area. To the visually impaired person, the difference
between reading and misreading often
depends on the level of image contrast and
quality. The screen image may be switched from
positive to negative for optimal contrast, providing
greater user comfort when reading or writing.
The Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature (Abridged) is available only in very small print,
and most visually impaired students need help
finding the information necessary to locate a
magazine article. Once found, however, the article
may be in Braille, on disc, or in print. The
library subscribes to magazines in all three formats,
whenever possible, in order to serve the
maximum number of students, staff, and
teachers. The library is the repository for a number
of professional journals which specialize in
education of the handicapped and visually impaired,
including a complete run of Journal of
Vision Impairment and Blindness (formerly Outlook
for the Blind) dating from 1907 to the
present.
The professional room contains books for both
professional study and recreational reading.
Beneficiary of a legacy from the estate of
Elizabeth Roe Dunning, an early literature
teacher at Overbrook, the fiction collection is a
gem of the best books published over several
decades. A part of the professional library, but
housed in another area, is a "blindiana" collection,
dating from the turn of the century to the
present, which includes a copy of The Story of My
Life by Helen Keller, autographed by both Helen
and her teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy.
-Software, Braille, and Talking Computers
The library maintains and dispenses the same
kinds of hardware usually found in school library
media centers, i.e., record players, tape players,
film strip projectors, overhead projectors, and
film projectors. The record players and tape
players both have adapters for blind people.
Of special interest to most visitors to the library
is the Kurzweil Reading Machine. Invented in
the 1970s by Raymond Kurzweil of Cambridge,
Massachusetts, the machine enables blind
people to "read" books, journals, and other
printed material not available in Braille or on
tape. Kurzweil programmed it with 1,000 rules
of English pronunciation and 1,500 exceptions.
Using advanced technology, the KRM converts
almost all typewritten or typeset material into
easily-understood speech. Besides reading, the
KRM functions as a calculator capable of performing
complex logarithmic, trigonometric, and
exponential functions. It provides voice output
for computers, speaking word-by-word, letterbyletter,
or number-by-number. It can be used
to convert printed material into the digital signals
required to drive Braille printers. A programmed
course of study, available both in Braille and on
tape, is used by capable Overbrook students,
aided by the librarian, to learn how to use this
machine in order to become more independent
in the quest for information.
Televisions and VCRs are available to the staff
and students at Overbrook School Library, and
are used for multiple purposes. The most recent
acquisition is a caption master VCR, that is, a
VCR recorder which has been engineered to
record and play "closed- captioned" TV shows
and tapes. This VCR has a special feature which
"burns in" the closed captions on tapes which
have been recorded off air in order to have the
captions permanently on the tapes. The National
Caption Institute (NCI) provides over 90 hours
of daily network programming, as well as over
1,500 films in video format with closed captioning.
It is anticipated that the segment of the
population at Overbrook which is hearing impaired
as well as visually impaired will benefit
from this new piece of equipment.
TVs and VCRs have many popular uses at Over
brook. ESL teachers play television programs to
teach American idioms and culture. Students of
sign language borrow tapes to review their lessons.
Literature teachers use tapes of movies and
plays, and the residential students enjoy recreational
movies on weekend evenings.
-Tactile Learning
The Overbrook library uses any means available
or devisable to enable students with visual handicaps
to learn. Puppets are used to enhance
stories for younger children; hand puppets,
finger puppets, and character dolls represent
story characters.
For many years, the Overbrook School for the
Blind has maintained a Touch and Learn Center.
Stuffed and mounted birds and animals (including
the recently-acquired raccoon, opossum,
squirrel, rabbit, shrew, and crow) are suitable for
handling and allow the children to "see" the
animals which may live on the urban campus.
Recordings of bird songs are useful for accompanying
the examination of birds from the Touch
and Learn Center.
The 1987 celebration of the Bicentennial of the
Constitution was made more meaningful for the
students by providing them with models of Independence
Hall and Carpenters' Hall and Brailled
maps of Independence Historical Park.
Likewise, copies of the Constitution were made
available in both Braille and large type.
-Other Media Available
The library uses computers both for instruction
and to produce library catalog cards. This is a
considerable help because Braille readers must
have a card catalog in Braille, which is a duplication
of the main printed card catalog. Printed
notices or lists which might be given to students
or teachers in a regular school library must be
issued in Braille as well. The Romeo Braille
Printer is a new machine which is helpful for this
purpose; it is available for use by the library staff,
even though it is not housed in the library. The
computers used by the students are equipped
with an Echo voice synthesizer that tells them
what is on the screen. Special software must be
used for this.
Toys and games are available for circulation to
teachers, students, and houseparents. Many of
the games are Brailled, including Monopoly sets
and playing cards.
-That little extra effort...
To provide all of the standard services offered by
any "ordinary" school library media center requires
a little extra attention and effort by the
library staff at the Overbrook School for the
Blind. The needs of each student and teacher
must be assessed individually, and supported by
whatever means possible --right down to the little
Brailled book markers with fuzzy book worms
attached which are given to the preschoolers!
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